One
of the great truths of salvation is that of justification. But
what is justification? The heart of the Reformation controversy
was over the meaning of this word and despite the impression given
by ECT, the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches are still very
much at odds with one another on this issue.
The Reformers claimed that the Roman Catholic Church had perverted
the true biblical meaning of the term by insisting on the necessity
of works and sacraments as the basis for justification. And the
Roman Church charged that the Reformers teaching of faith
alone (sola fide) and imputed righteousness was unbiblical
and itself a perversion of the gospel message. In order to properly
evaluate these two positions it is essential that we understand
correctly what the bible teaches on this subject. And this begins
with a biblical understanding of the nature of God. Why? Because
all biblical teaching on salvation is rooted in the character
of God himself.

The Nature of God

Scripture declares that God is
a God of holiness. He is a God of light in whom there is no darkness
at all (1 Jn. 1:5). Because he is holy, he is just. He always
acts righteously and in accord with his law since the law is an
expression of his essential character. His holiness demands just
dealings with sin. Thus, scripture teaches that the one true and
living God is a God of wrath and judgment precisely because he
is a God of holiness. As Leon Morris puts it:

The Old Testament consistently
thinks of a God who works by the method of Law. This is not the
conception of one or two writers but is found everywhere in the
Old Testament...Yahweh was thought of as essentially righteous
in His nature, as incorporating the law of righteousness within
His essential Being. Accordingly He works by a method which may
be called lawHe inevitably punishes evildoing and
rewards righteousness. He Himself acts righteously, and He demands
that His people do the same (Leon
Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1972), p. 233).

This is confirmed in the New
Testament by the apostle Paul where he states that the atonement
of Christ takes place to vindicate the righteousness of God, so
that he might be found just while mercifully justifying sinners:

Being justified as a gift by
His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom
God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through
faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in
the forbearance of God He passed over sins previously committed;
for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present
time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who
has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:24-26).

This passage tells us something
very significant about God and forgiveness. It tells us that God
is a God of love and mercy but that he cannot and will not exercise
his mercy in a way that would compromise his justice and righteousness.
He must act in accord with his law because it is an expression
of his holiness. So the forgiveness and justification of sinners
must be compatible with Gods justice and righteousness.
It must be consistent with and in fulfillment of his law. And
that means that he must judge sin. So the ultimate question is
this: How can unjust sinners stand before the judgment of a God
who is infinitely holy and just? God, in his love, desires to
forgive us and to extend mercy, but he cannot do so if it compromises
his holiness and justice.
The law demands death for transgression and perfect obedience
for Gods acceptance. How can he forgive and accept us when
we have transgressed the law and consequently do not possess this
perfect righteousness?
This is why the gospel is good news. It tells us that God has
provided a salvation for us in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has provided a means of redeeming us that is consistent with
his holy nature and law. He is able to exercise his love and extend
to us forgiveness without compromising his holiness and justice.
The great message of the gospel is that we can be justified (forgiven
and accepted by God) by grace through faith on account of Christ.
The Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches both agree with this
statement but define the terms differently. The key to understanding
this difference in interpretation is the word alone. The Protestant
Church states that an individual is justified by grace alone,
through faith alone, on account of Christ alone. This distinction
is crucial in understanding the scriptural teaching of justification
because the word alone safeguards its biblical meaning. To omit
this important word is to distort the scriptural teaching on justification.
There are four key concepts expressed by this summary statement
of the gospel: Justification, grace, faith and on account of Christ.
To understand the first threejustification, grace and faithwe
must understand that last phraseon account of Christ, because
scripture makes a direct correlation between justification and
the work of Christ. If we understand the work of Christ we will
understand the meaning of faith, grace and justification. Any
meaningful discussion of justification must be based upon a thorough
understanding of the atonement of Christ.

The Work of Christ in Atonement

One of the most important elements
in understanding the atonement is its relationship to the law.
The word of God states that Christ undertook the work of atonement
to deal with the penalty of a transgressed law. In so doing he
becomes both a curse and a propitiation. Thus, the atonement is
forensic in nature because it is judicial in nature. This is emphasized
in Pauls letters to the Galatians and Romans:

For as many as are the works
of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed
is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book
of the Law to perform them. Now that no one is justified
by the Law before God is evident; for, The righteous man
shall live by faith. However, the Law is not of faith;
on the contrary, He who practices them shall live by them.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a
curse for usfor it is written, Cursed is everyone
who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:1013).
But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been
manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the prophets, even
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all
those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as
a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ
Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood
through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because
in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously
committed. For the demonstration I say of His righteousness at
the present time that He might be just and the justifier of the
one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded.
By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For
we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works
of the Law (Rom. 3:2128).

There are four important concepts
emphasized in these passages which are key to an understanding
of the New Testament doctrine of the atonement of Christ: The
phrase For us; Curse; Propitiation; The righteousness
of God.

For Us

The scriptures tell us that Christ
became a curse for us. This is the truth of substitution. Jesus
became a curse by bearing mans sin and taking mans
place as his substitute to suffer the punishment due those sins
by enduring the penalty of Gods broken law in mans
place. All of our sin was imputed to him and the judgment of God
in all its fury came upon him:

God demonstrates His own love
towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us (Rom. 5:8).
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver
us out of this present evil age (Gal. 1:34).
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24).
He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed
for our iniquity. The chastening for our well being fell upon
Him and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep
have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the
Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him (Is. 53:4-6).

He made Him who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf (2 Cor. 5:21).

Curse and Propitiation

Our sin was imputed to Christ.
He then became a propitiation, suffering the wrath of God against
our sin by laying down his own life in death to satisfy the demands
of the law. This is the primary meaning of the word propitiationto
satisfy wrath. In this case it refers specifically to the wrath
of God in relation to sin. Christ bore the wrath of God as a judgment
against sin. This underscores the fact that Christs atonement
is penal in nature. It relates to the law of God. Scripture teaches
that one of the purposes of Christs incarnation was related
to the law of God: But when the fulness of time came, God
sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order
that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might
receive the adoption as sons (Gal. 4:45). On the cross
Christ bore the full punishment of the law as mans substitute.
In becoming a propitiation, he completely satisfied the justice
of God in that full punishment has been meted out to Christ as
our substitute. He bore the full penalty of the lawthe curse
of the law (he hangs on a tree in death)because the law
demands death for transgression. The reference to the shedding
of blood in scripture as the payment for sin always represents
a life laid down in death. There are various descriptions of this
in the New Testament: Christ...gave Himself for our sins
(Gal. 1:4); He...delivered Him up for us all (Rom. 8:32); Christ
also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God (Eph. 5:2); But God demonstrated His own love towards us,
in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8);
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
our trespasses (Eph. 1:7). These expressions refer us back
to the Old Testament sacrificial system which represented the
ultimate sacrifice of Christ as the lamb of God:

For the life of the flesh is
in the blood and I have given it to you on the altar to make
an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood by reason of
the life that makes atonement (Lev. 17:11).

Without the shedding of blood
there is no forgiveness (Heb. 9:27).

Behold the lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29).

So when scripture tells us that
we are justified as a gift through the propitiation of Christ
and his blood (Rom. 3:2526; 5:9), it means that through
his death he bore our sin and perfectly fulfilled all the requirements
of the law as our substitute. If we understand Christs atonement
we will begin to understand the biblical meaning of justification.
Justification is directly related to the atonement in scripture:
Having now been justified by His blood we shall be saved
from the wrath of God through Him (Rom. 5:9). To be justified
by Christs blood is to be justified by his death which is
his work of atonement.
What then is the nature of Christs atonement according to
the word of God? Christ has borne the totality of mans sin.
In his one act of obedience as a propitiatory sacrifice in death
he has borne the full judgment and condemnation of God against
sin forever. The New Testament teaches that his atonement is onceforall.
This means that the work of atonement is a finished and complete
work. Jesus himself said, It is finished. Note the
following references to the onceforall nature of the
atonement:

Knowing that Christ, having
been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer
is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin,
once for all; but the life that He lives He lives to God (Rom.
6:10).

Who does not need daily, like
those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own
sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did
once for all when He offered up Himself (Heb. 7:27)

Nor was it that He should offer
Himself often...otherwise He would have needed to suffer often
since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation
of the ages he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself (Heb. 9:2526).

By this will we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
(Heb. 10:10).

Repeatedly this onceforall
aspect of the work of Christ is emphasized in scripture. The Greek
word translated onceforall is ephapax. It is used
in particular with reference to Jesus death and communicates
the thought that Christs death is a finished work which
cannot be repeated or perpetuated. It was a unique historic event
which is completed and therefore he can never experience death
again. In addition to Pauls affirmation of this, Jesus himself
states: I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore
(Rev. 1:18). The word used to describe the death of Jesus as a
finished workephapaxis the same word used to describe
his sacrifice and the offering of his body (Heb. 10:10; 9:2526).
Just as Christ cannot die again, neither can his body be offered
again or his sacrifice be continued for sin. This is because apart
from his death there is no sacrifice that is propitiatory for
sin. What made his sacrifice propitiatory in Gods eyes was
his death. Hebrews 9:22 makes this point: Without the shedding
of blood there is no forgiveness. As a result then of this
one sacrifice, the bible teaches that God has accomplished a sufficient
and finished atonement. On the basis of that finished work God
now offers complete and total forgiveness to man. There is no
more sacrifice for sin: Where there is forgiveness of these
things there is no longer any offering for sin (Heb. 10:18).
And since there is no need for further sacrifice, scripture also
teaches that there is no need for a continuing sacerdotal priesthood.
Christ has fulfilled the Old Testament ceremonial law and it is
now abrogated (Heb. 7:1119). He has become our Sacrifice
and Priest and the only Mediator by which we approach God (1 Tim.
2:5; Heb. 7:2225). Christs atonement has completely
removed the guilt of our sin and its condemnation because he has
paid the penalty in full. This will become more evident as we
examine the different Greek words used to describe the work of
Christ in relationship to sin.

Luo

The Greek word luo means to loose.
It is found in the famous Matthew 16 passage where Jesus entrusts
the keys of the kingdom to Peter and tells him that whatever he
binds on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever he looses
on earth will be loosed in heaven. Luo means to release, to set
free, to dissolve or to destroy. Jesus used this word to describe
His impending death and resurrection: Destroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it up (Jn. 2:19). Peter uses
the word to describe the destruction of the physical universe
at the end of the age:

But the day of the Lord will
come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a
roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and
the earth and all its works will be burned up. Since these things
are to be destroyed in this way what sort of people ought we
to be in holy conduct and godliness (2 Pet. 3:1011).

The significance of this word
luo in the context of salvation is that it is the root word for
all Greek words that refer to redemption. For example the word
apolutrosis is the common Greek word for redemption. It is the
word used in Ephesians 1:7: In Him we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. The word lutron
which forms part of the word apolutrosis means a ransom price.
This is the word used by Jesus to describe the meaning of his
sacrificial death: The Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many (Mk.
10:45). The word lutroo is the verb form of lutron and it means
to redeem through the payment of a ransom price. Peter describes
this in the following words:

Knowing that you were not redeemed
with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way
of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood,
as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1
Pet. 1:1819).

Because a ransom price has been
paid (the life of the Lord Jesus given in death) sin has been
destroyed and those who are united to Christ are redeemed. They
have been set free from sin, and their redemption is eternal:

To Him who loves us and released
(loosed) us from our sins by His blood (Rev. 1:5).

But when Christ appeared as
a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through
the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood
of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the
holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption (Heb.
9:1112).

Those who are united to Christ
possess this redemption. It means a complete and full deliverance
from the guilt and condemnation of sin as well as from its bondage.
The redeemed in Christ are loosed from their sinscleansed,
forgiven and set freefor all eternity:

As far as the east is from the
west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Ps. 103:12).

There is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).

Truly, truly, I say to you,
he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal
life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of
death into life (Jn. 5:24).

My sheep hear My voice, and
I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them,
and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out
of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me is greater than
all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers
hand (Jn. 10:2729).

When Jesus says that whoever
enters into a relationship with him will never enter into judgment
he uses the Greek word krisis. This word is used in John 5:24
to describe the activity of Jesus himself as Judge:

For not even the Father judges
anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son...and He gave
Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man.
Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who
are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those
who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed
evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment (Jn. 5:22, 27-29; Cf.
Mt. 12:36; 1 Tim. 5:24; Heb. 9:27).

Those who have experienced redemptionthe
loosing of their sins as a result of the work of Jesus in atonementwill
never enter into judgment by God for their sins. This is because
their sins have already been judged in Jesus.

Aphaireo

The word aphaireo means to take
away or to remove. In Matthew 26:51 it refers to Peters
removal of the ear of the servant of the high priest. This word
is used in Hebrews 10:4 to contrast the animal sacrifices of the
Old Testament dispensation with Jesus atonement. The author
of Hebrews emphasizes the superiority of Christs atonement
to the Old Testament sacrifice of animals because his sacrifice
takes away sin: For it is impossible for the blood of bulls
and goats to take away sins...But now once at the consummation
of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself (Heb. 10:4; 9:26). The one sacrifice of Jesus
completely removes or takes away the guilt of our sin with its
consequent judgment and condemnation.

Athetesin

Athetesin means to annul or abolish.
It is the word used to describe the annulling or setting aside
of the Jewish ceremonial law once the sacrifice of Christ had
been completed. It is the same word used to describe the effect
of Christs sacrifice for sin:

Nor was it that He should offer
Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year
by year with blood not his own. Otherwise He would have needed
to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once
at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26).

By this one sacrifice sin has
been annulled, abolished, done away with. As a result, the promise
of the New Covenant is that God no longer remembers our sin:

Their sins and their lawless
deeds I will remember no more (Heb. 10:17).

Katherismos

The word katherismos means cleansing
or purification. It is the word employed by the writer of Hebrews
when he refers to Christs work as a purification from sin:
When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3). The term is
used in the aorist tense here and it speaks of a onceforall
finished work by which Christ has made a complete cleansing of
sin. This same word is used in Acts 15:9 by the apostle Peter
when he testified to the conversion of the Gentiles: And
He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts
by faith. When Peter preached the gospel and the Gentiles
responded by trusting in Christ they experienced an instantaneous
cleansing of their hearts from sin. It is also the word used by
the apostle John in his first epistle where he states that it
is the blood of Christhis finished work of atonementwhich
is the effectual cause of cleansing from sins defilement:
The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin
(1 Jn. 1:7). This is true of all who believe savingly in Christ.
By faith we experience a complete cleansing from sin through the
atonement of Jesus Christ.

Aphesis

Aphesis means forgiveness as
it relates to redemption and the ransom price of Christs
sacrifice. The death (blood) of Jesus is the only sufficient payment
for our sin. It alone satisfies the justice of God. Scripture
teaches that all things are cleansed with blood and without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb. 9:22).
Since Jesus has shed his blood we have a complete forgiveness
through him:

In Him we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses (Eph. 1:7).

In whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:14).

Now where there is forgiveness
of these things there are no more sacrifices (Heb. 10:18).

Exalaisas

Exalaisas means to wipe away,
to obliterate, to erase, to blot out. It describes what God does
with the totality of our sin in Christ:

He made you alive together with
Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled
out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us
and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross (Col. 2:13-14). Repent therefore
and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that the
times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts
3:19).

How many of our sins has Christ
died for? Since he died for us before we were even born he died
for all our sin, not just a portion of it. The certificate of
debt consisting of decrees against usour individual transgressions
of the lawhas been abolished. It has been nailed to the
cross. All our transgressions have been dealt with in Christ.
Our debt is completely paid and we are set free. In the mind of
God all our transgressions have been canceled out and wiped away
because the judgment due them was inflicted upon the Lord Jesus
Christ and as a result there is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).

The Reformation understanding
of justification as comprising freedom from the condemnation of
the law through the atonement of Christ is expressed by Huldrych
Zwingli:

A second kind of freedom from
the Law is that the Law cannot condemn any more, which yet before
wrought the wrath and indignation and just vengeance of God,
Rom. 4:15 and Gal. 3:10; and Deut. 27:26, where divine justice
sternly thunders: Cursed is everyone who continueth not
in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do
them. Christ, therefore redeemed us from this curse
of the law, being made a curse for us, that is, being nailed
to the cross for us, Gal. 3:13 and Rom. 6:10. We are no longer
under the Law but under grace; and if under grace, the Law cannot
condemn us, for if the Law still has the power to condemn, we
are not under grace. It is, therefore, Christ who has broken
the wrath of the Law (that is, who has appeased Gods justice,
which would have caused Him deservedly to rage against us), and
who by bearing the cruelty of the cross for us has so softened
it that He has chosen to make us not only free instead of slaves,
but even sons...We are freed from the vengeance of the Law; for
Christ has paid by His suffering that penalty which we owed for
our sins. Indeed, we have been so completely freed from sin,
as far as it is a disease, that it is no longer able to harm
us if we trust in Christ. For there is no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh
(Rom. 8:1) (Huldrych Zwingli,
Commentary On True and False Religion (Durham: Labyrinth,
1981), pp. 141142).

The Reformed understanding of
the forensic nature of the atonement of Christ is further elaborated
by James Buchanan:

If we seek to ascertain the
reasons which rendered it (Christs death) necessary...we
are taught by Scripture to ascribe it to the sins of menand
the justice of Godviewed in connection with His purpose
of saving sinners, in a way consistent with the honour of His
law, and the interests of His righteous government, through a
Divine Redeemer. If this be the correct view of the reason of
His death...then we cannot fail to regard all the sufferings,
which constituted so important a part of Christs Mediatorial
work, as strictly penal. They were the punishment, not of personal,
but of imputed, guilt. They were inflicted on Him as the Substitute
of sinners. He was made a curse for them, but only
because He had been made sin for them. In this view,
His sufferings were penal, because they were judicially imposed
on Him as the legal representative of those who had come under
the curse, according to the rule of that law which
proclaimed that the wages of sin is death, and that
the soul which sinneth it shall die.(James Buchanan, The Doctrine of
Justification (Edinburgh: Banner, 1961), pp. 305306).

The Atonement and Justification

The atonement is not an on going
process. It is a onceforall, nonrepeatable and
finished work. This means then that justification is a onceforall,
nonrepeatable, finished work. It likewise is not a process.
It is an eternal state of forgiveness and acceptance with God.
Because the atonement is forensic (legal) in nature, justification
is also a forensic work. When a man is justified all legal claims
against him have been satisfied and he is forgiven. This is in
part revealed by the resurrection:

He was delivered up because
of our transgressions and raised because of our justification
(Rom. 4:25).

We are told that we possess the
righteousness of God in justification and that through this righteousness
we are given an eternal standing of forgiveness and acceptance
before him. This is the basis upon which justification becomes
a reality for sinful men and women and is the defining issue for
a proper understanding of this great biblical doctrine.

The Righteousness of God

Because of Gods holiness
man needs a righteousness that will truly justify him before God.
Such a righteousness must be the perfect fulfilment of his law.
The wonderful news of the gospel is that when a man is united
to Jesus Christ he is given that righteousness as a gift, the
righteousness of God, a righteousness which fully satisfies the
justice of God and secures for the believer an eternal standing
of acceptance and forgiveness before him. But what is the righteousness
of God? Is it a righteousness that man is responsible for producing,
partially or wholly, or is it a righteousness accomplished completely
apart from mans activity, given solely as a gift? It is
imperative that we understand the biblical teaching on this matter.
If this truth is distorted then the biblical meaning of justification
will be distorted with tragic and eternal consequences.
There are at least five different meanings for the word righteousness
in the New Testament. Firstly, it describes an attribute of God.
God is described as being perfectly righteous in his essential
nature (Deut. 32:4 ). Secondly, it describes the character of
Christ as Jesus Christ the righteous (1 Jn. 2:1),
meaning that he likewise is perfect and sinless in nature and
character. Thirdly, it carries an eschatological meaning. In the
future kingdom of God following the second coming of the Lord
Jesus, all sin will be eradicated (Rev. 21:27). There will be
a new heaven and earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3:10-13).
This again describes a state of perfection. Fourthly, it describes
the experience of sanctification. The believer who enters into
a salvation experience with the Lord Jesus Christ becomes a slave
of righteousness (Rom. 6:1-22). Though imperfect, the prevailing
characteristic of his life will be righteousness. Finally, the
word righteousness is used to describe the work of Christ in atonement,
designated specifically by the phrase the righteousness of God.
It is this which is the basis for mans justification, separate
and distinct from the other descriptions of righteousness given
in scripture. The following scriptures define the nature of this
justifying righteousness:

But whatever things were gain
to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ...in
order that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having
a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which
is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from
God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him (Phil 3:710).

He made Him who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

But now apart from the Law the
righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by
the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe...being justified
as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ
Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood
through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because
in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously
committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness
at the present time, that He might be just and justifier of the
one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:2126)

Now to the one who does not
work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith
is reckoned as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the
blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart
from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,
and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin
the Lord will not take into account (Rom. 4:48).

For if by the transgression
of the one death reigned through the one, much more those who
receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as
through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all
men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted
justification of life to all men. For as through the one mans
disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the
obedience of the One the many will be made righteousness (Rom.
5:1719).

Brethren, my hearts desire
and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I bear
them witness that they have a zeal for God but not according
to knowledge. For not knowing about Gods righteousness,
and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves
to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom. 10:14).

But by His doing you are in
Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

There are a number of key points
in these passages regarding the righteousness that justifies.
The following points summarize its essential characteristics:

 It is a righteousness
that comes from God
 It is an objective, completed righteousness
 It is a righteousness accomplished outside of and apart
from man
 It is a gift
 It is given apart from works
 It is imputed
 It is given to the ungodly
 It is received by faith
 It is the Person and obedience of Christ in His work of
atonement
 It is given as a result of union with Christ

The righteousness that God requires
as a fulfillment of his law is provided as a gift in his Son Jesus
Christ who is the Lord our righteousness (1 Jn. 2:1; Jer. 23:6).
Paul describes the righteousness of God in Romans 3 as a righteousness
apart from the law but predicted in the law and the prophets.
Such prediction can be found in Isaiah 53, for example, where
the atonement of Christ for sin is clearly set forth. Paul states
that Christ became a propitiation for sin for the demonstration
of the righteousness of God that he might be just in justifying
sinners. In other words, the mercy and forgiveness he expresses
towards sinners in justifying them is in conformity with the righteous
demands of the law and with his holy nature because the Christ
who justifies is the Christ who gave his life as a payment for
sin in fulfilment of the demands of the law. Therefore the righteousness
of God is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is his obedience
which is the righteousness that justifies, not that of the believer.
Paul brings this out in Romans 5:1920: Through one
act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all
men...through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
Note that the work of Christ is described as an act of righteousness.
When this is compared with Pauls statement in Romans 5:9
that we are justified by his blood, we see that the
righteousness that justifies is not the righteousness of the individual
but the righteousness of the person of Christ in his work of atonement.
It is the righteousness of Another. It is also important to note
that this righteousness is not limited to Christs work of
atonement but includes his entire life of obedience. Christ fulfils
the law as mans substitute positively in that he lived a
perfect life of obedience and negatively in that he paid its penalty.
James Buchanan gives this explanation of the meaning of justifying
righteousness and why it is called the righteousness of God:

If we would understand the reason
why it is called the righteousness of God, we must
bear in mind that there was a twofold manifestation of righteousness
in the Cross of Christ: there was first a manifestation of the
righteousness of God the Father, in requiring a satisfaction
to His justice, and inflicting the punishment that was due to
sin; and to this the Apostle refers when he says, that God
set forth Christ to be a propitiationto declare
His righteousness, that He might be just, and the Justifier of
him that believeth in Jesus; there was, secondly, a work
of righteousness by God the SonHis vicarious righteousness
as the Redeemer of His people... This is the name whereby
He shall be called, The Lord our righteousness (Jer. 23:6).
He is so called on account of the righteousness which He wrought
out by His obedience unto death; for this righteousness is expressly
connected with His Mediatorial work...By His vicarious sufferings
and obedience, He fulfilled the Law both in its precept and its
penalty; and is now said to be the end of the law for righteousness
to every one that believeth (Rom. 10:34)(James Buchanan, The Doctrine of
Justification (Edinburgh: Banner, 1961), p. 319).

Paul says that this righteousness
is given as a gift by faith, to the ungodly, completely apart
from works. If it is a righteousness that is given apart from
works and to the ungodly, then it must be independent of human
works. It is a completed righteousness that is given and received.
This is not something that one works to achieve. This is very
important in helping us to understand the meaning of justification.
Pauls phrase apart from works is another way
of stating the Reformation teaching of faith alone. This simply
means that there is no work an individual can contribute to his
justification.
Some have suggested that when he uses the phrase by the
works of the law, Paul is not referring to the moral law
but to the Jewish ceremonial law. They suggest that while we must
repudiate the Jewish ceremonial law as a basis for justification
that this is not so for the moral law. However, in the book of
Romans, Paul uses the term law to include both the ceremonial
and the moral law of God. In Romans 7:713 he specifically
repudiates the moral law as a basis for justification. Because
the righteousness which justifies is a gift of God, justification
then is also a gift. The righteousness that justifies us is something
completely external to us. This is why the Reformers called it
an alien righteousness.
Justification is a forensic (legal) term which deals with acquittal
from the claims of the law. It is based upon the atonement of
Christ which was offered in the context of legal demands. Again,
we see the direct connection between justification and the atonement
in Romans 5:9 which states that we are justified by His
blood. Justification is a declaration of a righteousness
based on the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. Justification
does not mean to make righteous morally, but to declare
to be righteous legally. It has to do with a persons legal
status before God the holy Judge. This is the particular meaning
the word justification has within the overall context of salvation.
It means to be acquitted from guilt, to be set free from condemnation
and to be fully accepted by God.
There are two Greek words in the New Testament, both derived from
the same root, which are translated by the words righteousness
(dikaiosune), and justify (dikaioo). Thayers GreekEnglish
Lexicon of the New Testament defines dikaioo as: to declare,
pronounce one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be;
to declare guiltless one accused or who may be accused, acquit
of a charge or reproach; to judge, declare, pronounce righteous
and therefore acceptable. The noun dikaiosune means: The
state of him who is such as he ought to be, righteousness; the
condition acceptable to God; denotes the state acceptable to God
which becomes a sinners possession through that faith by
which he embraces the grace of God offered him in the expiatory
death of Christ. Leon Morris makes these important observations
on the meaning of the word justification as it is used in scripture:

It is necessary to say a word...about
the verb dikaioo which in the New Testament is translated to
justify but which has been understood in more ways than
one. Since verbs in -ow commonly express a causative idea it
is urged by some that dikaioo must mean to make righteous.
But it is to be noted in the first place that verbs of this class
denoting moral qualities do not have the causative meaning (e.g.
axioo means to deem worthy not to make worthy
and similarly with homioo, hosioo etc.), and in the second, that
in any case the meaning of a word is to be determined in the
last resort by the way people used it. We cannot at this distance
in time say that, since a verb is formed in such and such a fashion,
therefore the Greeks must have understood it to mean so and so;
all that we can do is to note how they did in fact use it, and
deduce from that what it meant to them. And by this test dikaioo
certainly does not mean to make righteous. In Greek
literature generally it seems to mean to hold right,
to deem right, and thence to claim or demand
as a right, and to do a man right or justice...Neither
the word structure nor the use of the verb outside the Bible,
then, gives countenance to the idea that to make righteous
is the meaning we are to understand. When we turn to those passages
where the verb to justify occurs, there can be no
doubt that the meaning is to declare rather than to make righteous...the
basic idea is one of acquittal...The Hebrew and Greek verbs remind
us of processes of law, and take their essential meaning from
those processes of law. That a declaratory process rather a making
righteous is meant is clear from the fact that the verb is applied
to Jehovah (Ps. 51: 4), for it is an impossible thought that
He should be made righteous in any sense other than
made righteous before men or declared righteous.
When we turn to the noun and the adjective from this root we
find the same essentially forensic significance. The righteous
are those acquitted at the bar of Gods justice, and righteousness
is the standing of those so acquitted. Nobody who has taken the
trouble to examine the ninetytwo examples of the use of
dikaiosune in the New Testament will doubt that the forensic
use is primary...When, for example, St. Paul speaks of the righteousness
which is by faith, he is not thinking in terms of mercy in men,
but of their legal standing before God (Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955), pp. 225-226, 234-235, 249).

The declarative nature of justification
is taught in Romans 5:19 where we read: For as through the
one mans disobedience the many were made sinners, even so
through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous.
The terms made sinners and made righteous
do not refer to our moral condition but to our status or position
before God. It refers to a reckoning in the mind of God. Before
a man is even born he is reckoned to be a sinner. The word translated
made is kathistemi. It means to set down as, to constitute,
to declare. It is used twentytwo times in the New Testament
and in most cases it means to be appointed to some kind of position.
Thus, to be justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ is
to be reckoned as righteous in Gods eyes, to hold the status
or position of righteousness, to be acquitted from the condemnation
and judgment of the law based on the onceforall atonement
of Christ. God declares that believers have fulfilled the demands
of the law in Christ. Believers are united with Christ in his
death, burial and resurrection so that his experience and standing
before God becomes theirs (Rom. 6:15). In other words, the
believer who is united to Christ is imputed with his righteousness.
This actually constitutes him righteous judicially before God
because this righteousness is a real righteousness. As John Murray
observes:

Justification means to declare
to be righteousit is a judgment based upon the recognition
that a person stands in right relation to law and justice...How
can God justify the ungodly?...Gods justification of the
ungodly presupposes or comprises within itselfthat is to
say the action of God denoted by justification of the ungodlyanother
action besides that which is expressed by our English word declare
righteous...This action is one in which he actually causes
to be the relation which in justification is declared to be.
He effects a right relation as well as declares that relation
to be. In other words he constitutes the state which is declared
to be. Hence the justifying act either includes or presupposes
the constitutive act. This alone will make the declaration to
be a declaration according to truth...It is not only through
the one righteous act (Romans 5:18) but it is by the bestowal
of the free gift of righteousness...That is to say justification
has not only righteousness as its proper ground, it is not only
that God has respect to righteousness, but it is also a bestowment
of righteousness and, because so, there is the assurance of life...Now
if there is an imputation of righteousness, such righteousness
meets the requirement of establishing a new relationship which
not only warrants the declaration but elicits and demands it
and ensures the acceptance of the person as righteous in Gods
sight (John Murray, Collected
Writings of John Murray (Edinburgh: Banner, 1977), Volume
II, pp. 206208).

In 1 Corinthians 1:30 Paul states,
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus who became to us
wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Here Paul uses the word righteousness as a synonym for justification
and separates justification from sanctification as concepts. Justifying
righteousness is a separate concept and work from that of sanctification
though they both come under the general heading of salvation.
Justification and sanctification are not interchangeable terms
in the New Testament. They are two entirely different aspects
of the overall work of salvation. Paul maintains that the righteousness
that justifies is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ: By His
doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us...righteousness.
He does not say that Christ is the source of grace by which a
person may become righteous through sanctification. He uses the
term sanctification for that. When he uses the word righteousness
with respect to justification, the apostle is underscoring the
wonderful truth that in Christ God provides a completed righteousness,
apart from the works of man. This righteousness instantly and
forever justifies an individual by conferring upon him a legal
state of eternal righteousness. It is a righteousness which has
fulfilled the just demands of the law of God.
Just as mans sin was imputed to Christ, so Christs
righteousness is imputed to the true believer. The whole concept
of imputation is essential to the doctrine of justification. This
is not the invention of the Protestant Reformers but the express
teaching of scripture itself. In Romans 4:56 Paul writes:
But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who
justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness,
just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom
God reckons righteousness apart from works. The Greek word
translated reckon in these two verses is logizomai.
It means to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over;
hence...to pass to ones account, to impute (Thayers
GreekEnglish Lexicon of the New Testament). This word is
used fortyone times in the New Testament. It means a mental
evaluation, conclusion or judgment regarding a particular issue.
It is an accounting term. Paul illustrates this in his letter
to Philemon when referring to Philemons former slave Onesimus:
But if he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything,
charge that to my account (verse 18). Charge that to my
account! In other words, impute that to me. Joel Beeke describes
the relationship between justification and imputation:

Justification is...a sisterconcept
to imputation. As a forensic (i.e. legal or judicial) term, justification
is the act of Gods sovereign grace whereby He imputes to
the elect sinner, who is in himself guilty and condemned, the
perfect righteousness of Christ, acquits him on the ground of
Christs merits of all guilt and punishment, grants him
a right to eternal life, and enables him to lay hold of and appropriate
to himself Christ and His benefits. Imputation signifies to credit
something to someones account by transfer, i.e. God transfers
the perfect righteousness of Christ to the elect sinner as a
gracious gift, and transfers all of the sinners unrighteousness
to Christ who has paid the full price of satisfaction for that
unrighteousness. By means of this mutual transfer the justified
sinner is viewed by God as if he never had had, nor committed
any sin, but had himself fully accomplished all that
obedience which Christ has accomplished (Heidelberg Catechism,
Q. 60; cf. Romans 4:46; 5:1219; 2 Corinthians 5:21)
(Don Kistler, Ed., Justification
By Faith Alone (Morgan: Soli Deo Gloria, 1995), pp. 8586).

So the basic thrust of Pauls
teaching on imputation in Romans 4 is this: In justification God
imputes or credits a completed righteousness, the obedience of
Another, to the one who comes by faith alone to Christ. This results
in an eternal state of forgiveness and acceptance with God. On
the basis of that imputed righteousness God comes to a settled
evaluation about the individualhe is judged to be righteous.
Historically, the whole concept of imputed righteousness for justification
has been mocked by the Roman Catholic Church. She calls it a legal
fiction. This is a serious charge. But in labelling this a legal
fiction the Roman Catholic Church brings this charge against God
himself. If the imputation of Christs righteousness is fiction
then the imputation of our sin to him is also fiction. But the
imputation of righteousness is the explicit teaching of scripture.
In justification there is a real righteousness and a real imputation,
just as in the atonement Christ bore in reality our sin and died
a real death. This is not a legal fiction.
There are today Roman Catholic apologists who repudiate any notion
of justification as a forensic concept. For example, in the spring
of 1995, CURE (Christians United For Reformation) hosted a debate
between Protestants and Roman Catholics on Justification. Robert
Sungenis, one of the Roman Catholic participants, made the following
comments on justification:

The concept of juridical justification
at the initial point of justification has no biblical support.
The only thing close to a courtroom scene for salvation is at
the end of time when Christ stands as the Judge of all. The biblical
context of initial justification has as its New Testament background
a relational, familial context. Though it is granted that words
for righteousness or justification can etymologically be shown
to have some juridical basis, this is primarily in the Old Testament
legal theocracy and even then eightyfive to ninety percent
of these uses are moral, not juridical. The main question is,
What does faith have to do with jurisprudence? The answer is,
nothing. But it has everything to do with relationships. The
words legal, forensic, contract, verdict, acquitted, defended,
court, courtroom, lawyer, juridical, jury, judge, do not appear
in reference to our initial justification with God in the New
Testament. When the New Testament is describing justification
or salvation it never uses a courtroom scene. It uses many other
paradigms but not a courtroom. Instead, Abraham is called the
friend of God when he is justified, not the acquitted defendent.
There is the enemy/friend paradigm (Rom 5, 9 and James 2:23).
There is the marriage/widowhood paradigm (Rom. 7:14). There
is the bondwoman/freewoman paradigm (Gal. 4:21ff). There is the
legitimate/illegitimate son paradigm (Heb. 12). There is the
Jew/Gentile paradigm (Gal. 2, Eph. 3). And finally there is the
adoption paradigm (Rom. 8:15, 23; Rom. 9:4; Eph. 1:5) (What Still Divides Us? A Protestant
& Roman Catholic Debate, Tape #WSD-05, Roman Catholic
Critique of Sola Fide, Christians United For Reformation, Anaheim,
CA).

In light of the fact that justification
is grounded upon the atonement of Christ (which Galatians 3 tells
us is performed in the context of the demands of the law of God)
these assertions by Robert Sugenis are patently false. To actually
suggest that scripture nowhere represents justification in a legal
sense is to completely misrepresent the teaching of scripture.
The cross of Christ is in fact one big courtroom scene. It is
a vindictaion of the justice of God, as Romans 3 teaches, enabling
God to be a just Judge while mercifully justifying sinners. While
it is true that in salvation believers are adopted into the family
of God, coming to know him as Father, it is equally true that
the basis for such a relationship is the satisfaction of the justice
of God who is a righteous and holy Judge. The following comments
from leading Reformers sum up the Reformation understanding of
the meaning of justification based on imputed righteousness and
the finished work of Christ in atonement in these words:

John Calvin: Let us explain what these expressions mean:
that man is justified in Gods sight, and that he is justified
by faith or works. He is said to be justified in Gods sight
who is both reckoned righteous in Gods judgment and has
been accepted on account of his righteousness. Indeed as iniquity
is abominable to God, so no sinner can find favor in his eyes
in so far as he is a sinner and so long as he is reckoned as
such. Accordingly wherever there is sin, there also the wrath
and vengeance of God show themselves. Now he is justified who
is reckoned in the condition not of a sinner, but of a righteous
man; and for that reason, he stands firm before Gods judgment
seat while all sinners fall. If an innocent accused person be
summoned before the judgment seat of a fair judge, where he will
be judged according to his innocence, he is said to be justified
before the judge. Thus, justified before God is the man who,
freed from the company of sinners, has God to witness and affirm
his righteousness. In the same way, therefore, he in whose life
that purity and holiness will be found which deserves a testimony
of righteousness before Gods throne will be said to be
justified by works, or else he who, by the wholeness of his works,
can meet and satisfy Gods judgment. On the contrary, justified
by faith is he who, excluded from the righteousness of works,
grasps the righteousness of Christ through faith, and clothed
in it, appears in Gods sight not as a sinner but as a righteous
man. Therefore we explain justification simply as the acceptance
with which God receives us into his favor as righteous men. And
we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation
of Christs righteousness.
Therefore, to justify means nothing else than to
acquit of guilt him who was accused, as if his innocence were
confirmed. Therefore, since God justifies us by the intercession
of Christ, he absolves us not by the confirmation of our innocence
but by the imputation of righteousness, so that we who are not
righteous in ourselves may be reckoned as such in Christ (John Calvin, Institutes of the
Christian Religion. Found in The Library of Christian Classics
(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), Volume XIX, Book III, Chapter
XI.23, pp. 726728).

Martin Luther: Because an eternal, unchangeable sentence
of condemnation has passed upon sinfor God cannot and will
not regard sin with favor, but his wrath abides upon it eternally
and irrevocablyredemption was not possible without a ransom
of such precious worth as to atone for sin, to assume the guilt,
pay the price of wrath and thus abolish sin. This no creature
was able to do. There was no remedy except for Gods only
Son to step into our distress and himself become man, to take
upon himself the load of awful and eternal wrath and make his
own body and blood a sacrifice for sin. And so he did, out of
the immeasurably great mercy and love towards us, giving himself
up and bearing the sentence of unending wrath and death. So infinitely
precious to God is this sacrifice and atonement of his only begotten
Son who is one with him in divinity and majesty, that God is
reconciled thereby and receives into grace and forgiveness of
sins all who believe in his Son. Only by believing may we enjoy
the precious atonement of Christ, the forgiveness obtained for
us and given us out of profound, inexpressible love. We have
nothing to boast of for ourselves, but must ever joyfully thank
and praise him who at such priceless cost redeemed us condemned
and lost sinners (Martin
Luther, Epistle Sermon, Twentyfourth Sunday After
Trinity (Lenker Edition, Vol. IX, #4345. Found in A
Compend of Luthers Theology, Hugh Kerr, Ed., (Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1966), pp. 5253).

Thomas Cranmer: It is our part and duty ever to remember the
great mercy of God; how that, all the world being wrapped in
sin by breaking of the law, God sent his only Son our Saviour
Christ into this world to fulfil the law for us; and by shedding
his most precious blood, to make a sacrifice and satisfaction,
or (as it may be called) amends, to his Father for our sins,
to asuage his wrath and indignation conceived against us for
the same...In our justification is not only Gods mercy
and grace, but also his justice, which the apostle calls the
justice of God; and it consisteth in paying our ransom
and fulfilling the law. And so the grace of God doth not exclude
the justice of God in our justification, but only excludeth the
justice of man, that is to say, the justice of our works, as
to be merits deserving of our justification...It pleased our
heavenly Father, of his infinite mercy, without any our desert
or deserving, to prepare for us the most precious jewels of Christs
body and blood, whereby our ransom might be fully paid, the law
fulfilled, and his justice fully satisfied. So that Christ is
now the righteousness of them that truly do believe in him. He
for them paid their ransom by his death. He for them fulfilled
the law in his life. So that now in him and by him every true
Christian man may be called a fulfiller of the law; forasmuch
as that which their infirmity lacketh, Christs justice
hath supplied (Thomas
Cranmer, An Homily of the Salvation of Mankind by Only Christ
Our Saviour from Sin and Death Everlasting. Found in The
Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster,
1966), Volume XXVI, pp. 262, 264).

The judicial basis of our relationship
with God is also seen in the New Testament teaching on the New
Covenant. The New Covenant is a term used to describe the new
relationship with God that is effected for man through the person
and work of Jesus Christ. The whole concept of covenant is at
the heart of Gods revelation to man. The New Testament is
but a record of the fulfilment and continuation of the Abrahamic
covenant of the Old Testament (Rom. 4:14; Gal. 3:629).
In this Covenant God brings man into a new relationship with himself
in which man experiences forgiveness of sins, an experiential
knowledge of God and a new heart sanctified unto God. This covenant
is mediated through the person of Jesus Christ on the basis of
his onceforall atonement for sin. The New Testament
frequently speaks of the blood of the covenant. For
example, Hebrews 9:15 states: And for this reason He is
the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has
taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were
committed under the first covenant, those who have been called
may receive the promise of eternal life. And Jesus, when
he initiated the Lords Supper as a memorial of his sacrificial
death, put it in covenantal terms when he said: This is
My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins...This cup which is poured out for you is
the new covenant in My blood (Mt. 26:28; Lk. 22:20). These
passages and others make it clear that apart from Christs
death, given as a payment for sin in atonement to God, there would
be no new covenant, no New Testament dispensation. The whole basis
for our relationship with God is legal in nature because it is
grounded solidly upon the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace and Faith

To understand imputed righteousness
is to understand grace and faith. Grace is the means by which
everything necessary for man to receive forgiveness and eternal
acceptance has been provided as a gift by God through the work
of his Son. It is not a work achieved or merited by man in any
way. It is accomplished by Christ alone. It is his righteousness,
not mans. Therefore from a biblical standpoint, grace alone
means by Christ alone, received by faith alone and not by works.
As Paul puts it:

If it is by grace it is no longer
on the basis of works otherwise grace is no longer grace (Rom.
11:6).

For we maintain that a man is
justified by faith apart from the works of the Law (Rom. 3:28).

Repeatedly, scripture tells us
that justification is not by works, either before or after a person
has come into the experience of grace. For example Titus 3:5 states:
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done
in righteousness, but according to His mercy. Paul states
that works are not the basis for our salvation, grace empowered
or otherwise. Why is this so? Because Christ has done all the
work necessary for justification:

By grace you have been saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast (Eph.
2:89).

Some Roman Catholic apologists
point out that the verb form for justify is found in the aorist,
present and future tenses in the New Testament. They maintain
this proves that justification is not a completed work but an
ongoing process which is dependent upon the human works of sanctification.
However such assertions are laid to rest by Galatians 2:16 where
all three verb tenses are found in relation to justification:

Nevertheless knowing that a
man is not justified (present) by the works of the Law but through
faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus,
that we may be justified (aorist) by faith in Christ and not
by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall
no flesh be justified (future).

Paul states emphatically that
no man is ever justified by works, whether it be the past, present
or future. He is writing to the Galatians who have already experienced
the grace of God. He is warning these believers that justification
is not a process based upon human works, even works in cooperation
with grace, but solely upon faith in Christ at a point in time.
Paul makes it clear in this same letter that if a gospel of justification
by works is preached it will result in the corrupting and distorting
of the true gospel of grace:

I am amazed that you are so
quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ,
for another gospel; which is really not another; only there are
some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of
Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach
to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you,
let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now,
if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which
you received, let him be accursed (Gal. 1:69).

Works as a basis for justification
must be repudiated and an exclusive trust in and reliance upon
the person of Christ and his work of atonement alone for salvation
must be exercised if one is to have saving faith. This is the
Reformation truth of sola fide or faith alone. It is another way
of stating the truth of Romans 3:28: For we maintain that
a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law.

The Place of Works

Is there any place for works?
The bible answers in the affirmative. In the book of James we
read:

What use is it, my brethren,
if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith
save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need
of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace,
be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what
is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith,
if it has no works, is dead being by itself. But someone may
well say, You have faith, and I have works; show me your
faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe
and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow,
that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father
justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result
of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled
which says, And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned
to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of
God. You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith
alone.

In light of Pauls teaching
on justification by faith how are we to understand James? Was
Abraham justified by works in addition to faith? Does this support
the Roman Catholic position that justification should include
works? To properly interpret James there are a number of important
principles to keep in mind. In Romans, Paul deals with the nature
of justification. In James the issue is the nature or character
of saving faith. James addresses the issue of dead faith, as opposed
to living, saving faith. Dead faith is faith that
makes a profession but it has no effect on the life, what many
call today, easybelievism, dead orthodoxy or mere intellectual
assent. Dead faith produces no fruit, no accompanying works to
testify to the veracity or reality of the professed faithput
simply, no holiness. So while Paul deals with the issue of legalism
as it relates to justification, James deals with antinomianism
as it relates to faith.
The key phrase in James 2 is show me your faith (Js.
2:18). The only way true saving faith is demonstrated is through
works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will
show you my faith by my works (Js. 2:18). True saving faith
will always be demonstrated or accompanied by works of love and
holiness. According to Romans 4:2 Abraham was justified by faith
apart from works. He was declared righteous by God. But how do
we know he truly had saving faith? Because his works revealed
and vindicated his faith before men. His faith bore the fruit
of love for God. In that sense his works justified his faith.
Faith alone justifies but the faith that justifies will always
give evidence of its existence, bearing fruit in holiness of life.
In Matthew 11:19 we are told, Wisdom is vindicated (justified)by
her deeds. The word for vindicated here is the Greek word
justify. It simply means that wisdom is revealed or demonstrated
as true wisdom by the evidence of its works. The works do not
make it wisdom. Wisdom exists, but the works reveal its existence.
It is the same with true saving faith. Justification and faith
already exist but the reality of saving faith is always evidenced
by works. The Dictionary of New Testament Theology puts it this
way: In the expression, faith working through love (Gal.
5:16), love is specified as the means by which faith becomes visibly
operative or effective (Colin
Brown, Ed., Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1978), Volume III, p. 1182).

This is further amplified by
the apostle John in his first epistle. John states, By this
we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments...no
one who is born of God practices sin, for His seed abides in him;
and he cannot sin because he is born of God (1 Jn. 2:3;
3:9). John is teaching that a righteous life is the evidence of
the new birth. If an individual is truly united to Jesus Christ
he will give evidence to that reality by living a righteous life.
The works of righteousness do not produce the new birth or the
knowledge of God, rather they give evidence of it. Jesus teaches
the same truth. In John 15:8 he says, By this is My Father
glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples
(Jn. 15:8). The fruit of righteousness gives evidence or proof
that one has come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
The disciple relationship already exists and the works are evidence
of the reality of that relationship. Likewise Jesus disabuses
the Pharisees of the notion that they were the children of Abraham
when he states that if they were, they would do the deeds of Abraham
(Jn. 8:39). Instead they give evidence of the fact that they are
the children of Satan (Jn. 8:44). He says that if God were truly
their Father they would love him (Jn. 8:42). In other words, a
persons true nature is revealed by his attitudes and life.
The deeds do not create the nature but reveal its existence. Jesus
teaches that a tree is known by its fruit (Mt. 7:1620).
The fruit does not create the tree but reveals the type of tree
it is. Similarly, a righteous life is the obvious and inevitable
result of true salvation. It is the fruit of union with Christ.
This same truth is expressed by Paul when he says, Therefore,
my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the
body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who
was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God
(Rom. 7:4). First comes the relationship with Christ and then
follows the fruit as an evidence of the union. After stating in
Ephesians 2:89 that salvation is not by works, Paul goes
on to say: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should
walk in them (Eph. 2:10). Though works are not the basis
for our salvation, we are saved to bring forth works which glorify
God. Philip Melanchthon, the Reformer and close friend and associate
of Martin Luther, makes these comments on the relationship between
faith and works:

Paul is here (1 Corinthians
1213)...demanding love in addition to faith. This is what
he does elsewhere in all his letters, demanding good works from
believers, i.e. the justified...And when he says that he who
has all faith but no love is nothing, he is right. For although
faith alone justifies, love is also demanded...But love does
not justify because no one loves as he ought. Faith, however,
justifies...There is also the passage in James 2:17: So
faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. He did well
to say this, for he was reprimanding those who thought that faith
is merely a historical opinion about Christ. For just as Paul
calls one type of faith true, and the other feigned,
so James calls the one kind living and the other
dead. A living faith is that efficacious, burning
trust in the mercy of God which never fails to bring forth good
fruits. That is what James says in ch. 2:22: Faith was
completed by works....Therefore, the whole point that James
is making is that dead faith...does not justify, but a living
faith justifies. But a living faith is that which pours itself
out in works. For he speaks as follows (v. 18): Show me
your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show
you my faith. But he does not say: I will show you
works without faith. My exposition squares most harmoniously
with what we read in James: So faith by itself, if it has
no works, is dead. Therefore, it is obvious that he is
teaching here merely that faith is dead in those who do not bring
forth the fruit of faith, even though from external appearances
they seem to believe (Philip
Melanchthon, Love and Hope. Found in The Library of
Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969), Volume
XIX, p. 112).

Thomas Cranmer, expresses a similar
view:

The first entry unto God, good
Christian people, is through faith; whereby...we be justified
before God. And, lest any man should be deceived for lack of
right understanding thereof, it is diligently to be noted that
faith is taken in the Scripture two manner of ways. There is
one faith which in Scripture is called a dead faith, which bringeth
forth no good works, but is idle, barren, and unfruitful. And
this faith by the holy apostle St. James is compared to the faith
of devils, which believe God to be true and just, and tremble
for fear, yet they do nothing well, but all evil. And such manner
of faith have the wicked and naughty Christian people; which
confess God, as St. Paul saith, in their mouth, but
deny him in their deeds, being abominable and without the right
faith and in all good works reprovable...This dead faith therefore
is not that sure and substantial faith which saveth sinners...The
true, lively, and unfeigned Christian faith...is not in the mouth
and outward profession only, but it liveth, and stirreth inwardly
in the heart. And this faith is not without hope and trust in
God, nor without the love of God and of our neighbours, nor without
the fear of God, nor without the desire to hear Gods word,
and to follow the same in eschewing evil and doing gladly all
good works (Thomas Cranmer,
A Short Declaration of the True, Lively and Christian Faith.
Found in The Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1966), Volume XXVI, pp. 272273).

Sanctification cannot be separated
from justification in the overall experience of salvation. When
an individual is justified he begins the process of growth in
holiness called sanctification or fruitbearing. The bible teaches
nothing of justification without sanctification. If there is no
fruit, then as James says, the professed faith is dead and will
not save. A faith that lacks the fruit of obedience is nothing
more than intellectual assent and therefore, dead orthodoxy.
Paul states, There will be tribulation and distress for
every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of
the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to every man who does
good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Rom. 2:910).
And Jesus said, Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming,
in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall
come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of
life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of
judgment (Jn. 5:2829). Jesus and Paul are not teaching
salvation by works. Rather, they are stressing the necessity of
works as the evidence of saving faith, the visible criteria by
which a true relationship with Christ is judged to exist. It is
the relationship, not works, which is the basis for entrance into
the kingdom of God.
What about rewards? This issue was a point of contention between
the Reformers and Rome due to Romes theology of merit. Roman
Catholicism consistently misinterprets scripture regarding rewards
by equating them with eternal life. For example, Roman Catholic
theologian, Ludwig Ott, states:

According to Holy Writ, eternal
blessedness in heaven is the reward...for good works performed
on this earth...Jesus promises rich rewards in Heaven to those,
who for His sake are scorned and persecuted: Be glad and
rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven (Mt. 5:12).
The judge of the world decrees eternal reward for the just on
the ground of their good works: Come, ye blessed of my
Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat (Mt. 25:34).
In Christs discourses the reward motive frequently recurs
(Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals
of Catholic Dogma (Rockford: Tan, 1974), pp. 264265).

It is clear from the teaching
of Jesus that he does promise rewards for faithful service. For
example he states: For whoever gives you a cup of water
to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I
say to you, he shall not lose his reward (Mt. 9:41). In
another place he says: Blessed are you when men cast insults
at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you
falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward
in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were
before you (Mt. 5:1112). Note, however, that the rewards
spoken of here are not heaven or eternal life. As we have seen,
eternal life is a free gift (Rom. 6:23). It cannot be earned or
merited by human works. Rewards on the other hand are for faithful,
persevering service. John Murray helps us to understand the relationship
between justification and works and rewards:

While it makes void the gospel
to introduce works in connection with justification, nevertheless
works done in faith, from the motive of love to God, in obedience
to the revealed will of God and to the end of his glory are intrinsically
good and acceptable to God. As such they will be the criterion
of reward in the life to come. This is apparent from such passages
as Matthew 10:41; 1 Corinthians 3:89, 1115; 4:5;
2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:7. We must maintain therefore,
justification complete and irrevocable by grace through faith
and apart from works, and at the same time, future reward according
to works. In reference to these two doctrines it is important
to observe the following: (i) This future reward is not justification
and contributes nothing to that which constitutes justification.
(ii) This future reward is not salvation. Salvation is by grace
and it is not a reward for works that we are saved. (iii) The
reward has reference to the station a person is to occupy in
glory and does not have reference to the gift of glory itself.
While the reward is of grace yet the standard or criterion of
judgment by which the degree of reward is to be determined is
good works. (iv) This reward is not administered because good
works earn or merit reward, but because God is graciously pleased
to reward them. That is to say it is a reward of grace. In the
Romish scheme good works have real merit and constitute the ground
of the title to everlasting life. The good works are rewarded
because they are intrinsically good and wellpleasing to
God. They are not rewarded because they earn reward but they
are rewarded only as labour, work or service that is the fruit
of Gods grace, conformed to his will and therefore intrinsically
good wnd wellpleasing to him. They could never be rewarded
of grace if they were principally and intrinsically evil (John Murray, Collected Writings
of John Murray (Edinburgh: Banner, 1977), Volume 2, pp. 221222).

Works do not save or justify.
But a saved life will demonstrate itself in a life of sanctification
and faithful service to the Lord. This was the consistent teaching
of the Reformers and all those who are true to their teaching.
In teaching faith alone neither Calvin or Luther ever implied
that one could be justified and yet go on living in sin. They
taught what scripture teaches: that when an individual is saved
he is eternally justified, but also regenerated, sanctified and
adopted. Justification is but one aspect of the overall work of
salvation, as is sanctification. Although both doctrines come
under the general heading of salvation they are not interchangeable
terms. They are separate blessings which flow simultaneously from
union with Christ. The Protestant Reformers affirmed the biblical
teaching of imputed righteousness for justification as well as,
and in addition to, the necessity for regeneration and the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit for sanctification, but without confusing the
terms. They consistently taught that justification is by faith
alone but by a faith evidenced by or which necessitates the works
of sanctification. So the emphasis of the Reformation was upon
a twofold understanding of righteousness. Firstly, in justification
there is the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and secondly,
by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there is the living out
of the righteousness of sanctification. This is well expressed,
for example, by Martin Luther:

Through faith in Christ, therefore,
Christs righteousness becomes our righteousness and all
that he has becomes ours; rather, he himself becomes ours. Therefore
the Apostle calls it the righteousness of God. in
Rom. 1:17: For in the gospel the righteousness of God is
revealed...as it is written, The righteousness man shall
live by faith. ...This is an infinite righteousness,
and one that swallows up all sin in a moment, for it is impossible
that sin should exist in Christ. On the contrary, he who trusts
in Christ exists in Christ; he is one with Christ, having the
same righteousness as he...Therefore this alien righteousness,
instilled in us without our works by grace alonewhile the
Father, to be sure, inwardly draws us to Christis set opposite
original sin, likewise alien, which we acquire without our works
by birth alone.
The second kind of righteousness is our proper righteousness,
not because we alone work it, but because we work with that first
and alien righteousness. This is the manner of life spent profitably
in good works, in the first place, in slaying the flesh and crucifying
the desires with respect to the self, of which we read in Gal.
5:24: And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified
the flesh with its passions and desires. In the second
place, this righteousness consists in love to ones neighbor,
and in the third place, in meekness and fear toward God...This
righteousness is the product of the righteousness of the first
type, actually its fruit and onsequence...This righteousness
goes on to complete the first for it ever strives to do away
with the old Adam and to destroy the body of sin. Therefore it
hates itself and loves its neighbor; it does not seek its own
good, but that of another, and this its whole way of living consists.
For in that it hates itself and does not seek its own, it crucifies
the flesh. Because it seeks the good of another, it works love.
Thus in each sphere it does Gods will, living soberly with
self, justly with neighbor, devoutly toward God (Martin Luther, Two Kinds of Righteousness.
Taken from Martin Luthers Basic Theological Writings
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989), pp. 156158).

The English Reformer, John Hooper,
says:

It is no profit to say sole
faith justifieth, except godliness of life follow, as Paul saith:
If ye live according to the flesh, ye shall die (John Hooper, A Declaration of
Christe and His Offyce. Found in The Library of Christian
Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966), Volume XXVI,
p. 206).

Thus, while the Reformation teaching
of faith alone (sola fide) means a repudiation of all works as
necessary for justification, it is not a repudiation of works
in general. The Reformers unanimously insisted on the necessity
for the works of sanctification.

The Results of Justification

Justification is an eternal declaration
of God which happens the moment an individual is united to Christ.
It is not a process dependent upon the works of an individual
but an instantaneous act of God. The sinner is translated out
of a state of sin and enmity with God into a state of forgiveness
and acceptance with him. He is reconciled to and has peace with
God (Rom. 5:1). He is set free from all judgment and condemnation
(Rom. 8:1). The believer is brought into a filial relationship
with God through the New Covenant. He is adoptedmade a child
of God (Rom. 8:1517; Eph. 1:5; 1 Jn. 3:12). It is
not uncommon in the polemics between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism
for Roman Catholics to misrepresent the true teaching of the Reformation.
All too often Roman apologists give the impression that imputed
righteousness in justification is the totality of the Protestant
teaching on salvationthat it includes nothing more. There
is rarely any mention made that the true position of the Reformation
is an affirmation not only of imputed righteousness for justification
but also of sanctification, regeneration and adoption. Even a
cursory reading of Reformed theology reveals this to be the case.
For example, with respect to the teaching of adoption the Westminster
Confession states:

All those that are justified,
God vouchsafeth, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ, to make
partakers of the grace of adoption: by which they are taken into
the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children
of God; have his name put upon them, receive the Spirit of adoption;
have access to the throne of grace with boldness; are enabled
to cry, Abba, Father; are pitied, protected, provided for, and
chastened by him as a father; yet never cast off, but sealed
to the day of redemption, and inherit the promises, as heirs
of everlasting salvation (The
Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XII. Cited in A.A.
Hodge, The Confession of Faith (Edinburgh: Banner, 1958),
p. 191).

When an individual is truly saved
he is adopted into the family of God. But adoption is based upon
the truth of justification. Scripture makes this point when it
says: But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth
His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He
might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive
the adoption as sons (Gal. 4:45). Our adoption as
sons can only become a reality if Christ redeems us from the law
by bearing its curse for us. Our entire relationship with God,
then, is grounded upon a legal declaration sealed in bloodthe
blood of the Lamb of God who gave himself as a propitiatory sacrifice
for sin to satisfy the just claims of the law of God. The believer
moves out of the courtroom of God the Judge into the home of God
the Father only because Another, our Lord Jesus Christ, stood
in his place to bear the consequences of a transgressed law.

Because justification is completely
dependent on the work of Christ, it is perfect and eternal in
nature. Christ imparts eternal life (Jn. 3:16), and his work accomplishes
an eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12) and provides an eternal inheritance
(Heb. 9:15; 1 Pet. 1:4). Once a man is justified, therefore, he
cannot lose that grace. The scriptures speak with certainty about
the assurance of eternal salvation. Jesus himself makes the following
statements:

Truly, truly, I say to you,
he who hears My word , and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal
life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of
death into life (Jn. 5:24).
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish;
and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has
given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to
snatch them out of the Fathers hand (Jn. 10:2729).

Justification is a state of forgiveness
and acceptance with God which is as perfect and eternal as Christs
own standing. It cannot be improved upon and it cannot be lost:

Who will bring a charge against
Gods elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one
who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was
raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes
for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword?...But in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:3335,
3739).